It will be a banged-up Cal basketball team that begins Pac-12 play Thursday at UCLA and Saturday at USC, far from the ideal way for the team to start its conference schedule of 18 games.

"Hurting" was how coach Mike Montgomery summed up his team after it completed its non-conference schedule with a surprising home loss to Harvard. "Lots of injuries."

Swingman Ricky Kreklow is questionable with a lingering foot injury, as is point guard Brandon Smith after sustaining a concussion against Prairie View A&M on Dec. 22. Sophomore forward Christian Behrens, whose playing time gradually had increased, was lost for the season with a knee injury. And starting forward Richard Solomon has a mild concussion.

That means Cal (8-4) will have to play its starters more minutes than Montgomery would like and rely heavily on guards Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs for the bulk of the scoring. Crabbe is leading the Pac-12 in scoring at 20.9 points per game. Cobbs averages 16.4 points and 3.8 assists per game.

Between them, Crabbe and Cobbs account for a little more than 50 percent of Cal's scoring.

"It doesn't make any difference, it's what we've got," Montgomery said of his team's health. "We're hoping to get Brandon back 100 percent so we can spot people around. Hopefully, we'll be able to do that."

As for the state of Stanford's team as it begins conference play Thursday at USC and Saturday at UCLA, coach Johnny Dawkins is considerably more upbeat than his Cal counterpart.

"I'm excited to start conference play," Dawkins said. "Everyone starts out zero and zero. I think we can compete with any team in the conference. There's a lot of parity in the league."

In particular, Dawkins said he likes what he's getting from junior forwards Dwight Powell and Josh Huestis. The 6-foot-10 Powell is leading the Cardinal (9-4) with 14.5 points per game. The 6-7 Huestis is the top rebounder at 8.9 per game. Point guard Chasson Randle is scoring at a 13.8 clip.

"I think we've defended well all season long," Dawkins said. "To be successful, you have to defend. I think we can be better offensively. We're still in the process of feeling each other out. It's a matter of getting the chemistry down."

Rooks commits: Cal received a verbal commitment this week from center Kameron Rooks of San Marcos (San Diego County). He's the kind of big man, 7-0 and 270 pounds, lacking on this year's Cal roster. Rooks is the son of former Arizona standout and NBA player Sean Rooks. The younger Rooks announced on his Twitter account that he had chosen Cal over Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, Oregon State and UConn. He'll be part of a promising 2013-14 freshman class that includes guards Jabari Bird (Salesian-Richmond), Jordan Mathews (Santa Monica) and Sam Singer (Miami).